At the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority board meeting on Sept. 11, IWVGA legal counsel Phil Hall disputed the Indian Wells Valley Water District’s claim that a new study proves the valley has far more water than previously thought. He stated that the study is unfinished, not truly independent, and that the claim of extra water conflicts with observable decline in water levels.  The California Department of Water Resources classified the Indian Wells Valley groundwater basin as being in critical overdraft based on the annual amount of water that recharges it naturally compared to the amount of water pumped out of it in the IWV. IWVGA is an agency responsible for forming and enacting a groundwater sustainability plan. This plan uses a study from Desert Research Institute that states that 7,650 acre-feet of water recharge the IWV groundwater basin annually. Meanwhile, roughly 20,000 AFY is pumped out of the IWV groundwater basin each year, much of which comes from agricultural or residential use.